Kitchen Cleanup Question

How long to clean the kitchen every day?

  • 30 min or less?

    Votes: 7 50.0%
  • 30-60 min

    Votes: 6 42.9%
  • 60 to 90 min

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 90 min or more

    Votes: 1 7.1%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .

susiestar

Roll With It
I am new at posting polls, so I may have to tweak this.

How long does it normally take to clean your kitchen?

The kids and I have a debate. They feel that it takes hours to clean the kitchen and that it is unreasonable to have this happen every day. I think it only takes that long because they will only put dishes in the dishwasher. Wiping countertops, picking up trash off the floor, picking up dishes off of the floor, all of that is 'too hard' to do. I also think that if you throw the wax paper, cans, packaging, unusable scraps into the trash when you remove it from whatever rather than putting it on the counter, in the sink or even dropping it on the floor and kicking it out of your way, you eliminate much of the problem with almost zero effort. You cannot be more than three steps from the garbage can in our kitchen, so how hard is it? Mostly you can just reach over to throw something away with-o taking any steps.

I also believe that loading the dishwasher, running it, waiting another hour or two for things to finish drying, and not doing ANY other method of dish cleaning is going to make it take an entire day to clean the kitchen. Esp if you leave several inches between each dish - thank you and husband both put about 1/3 of the dishes into the racks that they can hold and actually get clean. They leave a TON of room between dishes and then it takes even longer.

So how long does it take to clean a kitchen every day? Less than 30 min? 30 to 60 min? 60 to 90 min? More than 90 min?

They are swearing htat to do what I ask will take at least 90 min and more like 2 hrs.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
My kitchen is HUGE. Ask Step and Stang, they'll tell you. Everyday cleaning takes no more than 30-60 mins, more along the lines of 45 mins depending on what I cooked and I do dishes by hand which is why it takes so long. When I had a smaller kitchen, it took 20 mins tops and that was with sweeping and mopping every single day.

Holy Moly, with a dishwasher, no more than 10 mins tops. Man I'm kicking myself for not splurging on that dishwasher when I had the chance. ugh
 

JKF

Well-Known Member
I have decent sized kitchen and I feel like I clean it non stop. Dishes multiply like gremlins! lol I guess from start to finish - daily cleaning really only takes about 30 minutes. If I actually do a good "scrub down" it takes about 45.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
If it's done EVERY DAY, it shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes tops. Sweeping can be done every other day and mopping once a week or if something gets spilled.

Emptying the FULL dishwasher takes me 3-4 minutes, handwashing whatever can't go in the dishwasher another 5, swipe the counters and sweep and - DONE.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Depends on... who is cooking, the crumb-factor, and whether it was fully cleaned yesterday.

Catch-up cleaning after a day of baking = 2 hours (includes cleaning stove, washing floor... major clean)

Clean-up after messy cooking (stove-top hamburgers, bacon... stuff that spatters or tends to boil over) = 45 min

Clean-up of a kitchen that hasn't been allowed to get messy (breakfast dishes that don't go in dishwasher, a few pots from supper, need to clear and clean kitchen table) = 30 minutes for one person, 15 for two.

In reality... we almost never get case #3 in our house... except the day after a major clean.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Im in awe that you guys can clean so fast! For me it takes a day or two...lol. Now it should probably only take about an hour if I wasnt washing the floor. I think I would be more inline with IC. My kitchen needs deep cleaning most often because normally no one does the cleaning as you go routine.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
If it's done EVERY DAY, it shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes tops. Sweeping can be done every other day and mopping once a week or if something gets spilled.

Emptying the FULL dishwasher takes me 3-4 minutes, handwashing whatever can't go in the dishwasher another 5, swipe the counters and sweep and - DONE.

Oh, but... we have more work than that.
1) de-crumb the bread slicer
2) clean the bread-maker
3) clear the table, shake out placemats, put away extra cutlery, clear snack "wrappers", wipe down table, and re-set
4) vacuum floor (hand-held, near baseboards... crumb factor)
5) sanitize water bottles, clean lunch bags (yes, daily)
6) clear the island (this is a work-surface, frequently used for mixing, rolling, shaping... usually is coated with flour several times a week)
7) clean the coffee maker (filter holder and coffee pot, special cleaning instructions, done at least every other day)
8) vacuum out under-sink area (crumb factor again... seriously, how hard is it to actually HIT the garbage can with that stuff?)

It's late - I probably missed a couple.
(and no, I don't live in a mansion, nor are we rich... we've just spent something like two decades accumulating really good stuff second-hand at incredible prices... )
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Wow, IC, maybe I'm old fashioned but if gadgets create that much more work, I get rid of them. But I will say with dogs I don't have much of a "crumb factor" to worry about if any. lol

The cleaning I was speaking of is the daily. Now if it's the down to earth weekly cleaning...........it can take 2 hrs. But that includes sorting and rotating stock in the pantry / laundry room which is time consuming. Shoot trying to figure out where to put it can be time consuming. I dread the weekly cleaning. The twice yearly?? Do not get me started. omg
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
As far as total time and effort? cleaning the table and the island is MOST of the work. And those have nothing to do with gadgets.

Well, except that... if it wasn't for fresh home-made bread, there would probably be less crumbs...
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
I didn't respond to a time because it's too open ended for me. I'm a "do as you go along" or "do something everyday" kind of gal. One the weekend, with preparing and eating three meals a day, obviously the kitchen time is longer. During the week it's breakfast on the run and difficult child and me making our lunches to take to school and work and then four dinners and one night eating out. We clean as we go along. Usually on Saturday or Sunday I will scrub out the sink with softscrub, wipe out the inside of the micro (if needed because I clean as I go), empty the crumb tray on the toaster oven, clean out the fridge, etc. But that doesn't take but maybe 20 minutes.... But the outside of the fridge, stove surface (glass), counters, floor, etc., are done "as we go along". So, can't give a definitive answer.

Sharon
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
About 30 min, give or take. Like LDM, I tend to clean as I go so the mess doesn't really have a chance to accumulate.
90 min to 2 hours would be for the Great Kitchen Scrubbing, which includes scrubbing baseboards and cabinets, hosing down the garbage, compost and recycling containers, getting at the ick that accumulates under the fridge and stove, etc.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Thanks all! husband and I were talking and we cannot figure out what the kids are doing that takes so long. it is highly annoying. THe poll wll allow me to tell J especially that the time frame I am expecting truly IS reasonable if either one of them would just go in and do the job rather than doing five min worth, and then taking an hour break because you 'daughter too much'.

My kids are getting whatever copies of Don Aslett's cleaning books I can find for xmas. My fave used bookstore has quite a variety. Aslett is a guy who owns a cleaning company and his methods are generally very effective and efficient.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I don't clean the kitchen at all during the week. I leave all the dirty dishes in the sink, spills on counters, the floors need to be swept. I do all my cleaning on Saturday. I wash all the dishes and pots and pans by hand, wipe off the couter tops, sweep the floor, get down on my hands and knees and scrub the floor, and take out the trash. All that work takes me 30 minutes tops. I have no idea what could take your kids so long to clean for. They must be taking a whole lota breaks in between cleaning!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Susie, best method I've found to get kids to clean effectively and efficiently? Have a seat in the room where they're cleaning. They don't get to leave said room until it is done to your satisfaction. They will either learn to clean quick and well............or they will be spending a LOT of time in whatever room they're supposed to be cleaning. I got a lot of reading done that way. LOL
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I wish I could get Billy to clean simply by me sitting in the room. He just does a little bit and wanders out. That reminds me, I need to go to the grocery store and buy trash bags.
 
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